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Had a pot of Lapsang Souchong with my gaming buddy yesterday. Just trying to keep the boardgaming civilised, don’tcha know. Anyway, I really like this tea for its pine and smoke. I think I’ve said all I need to about my own thoughts on this tea previously in tasting notes. My friend was not familiar with LS at all, so it was an interesting experiment.

He commented on the smokiness, noting that he was really not keen on the aroma. However, once past his nose, the tea was really jolly good. He commented on the pine and sweetness of the tea, and noted that it was a bit like drinking liquid barbecue. We managed to drink three pots of it while playing, so I reckon it was a success.

I’ve nearly finished this brick, because I have been drinking it grandpa style a lot while driving deliveries for my wife’s shop. So, to make sure I tasted it properly before I ran out, I bunged a load of leaf in the gaiwan and have been brewing away properly over the past few days.

The dry leaf carries the aroma of a warm barnyard full of horses. It’s pleasing, and the tea responded well to the gaiwan, delivering a light floral liquor that was a mid yellow colour. It gave about 12 or 15 steeps in total, perhaps a little more, before it gave out. I should have made notes on that but I did not, and likely I shall not learn from this either!

My original tasting note from 2 years ago still holds. There is smokiness there and a mild astringency that is pleasing to the tongue. The aftertaste is minimal and there is little subtlety to the flavour. What there is, though, is an unchallenging, workmanlike tea that delivers a pleasant drink at a good price. I could drink this regularly without complaining, were I in need of an everyday sheng. It certainly works for when I am too tired to appreciate something better.

Free sample from Teavivre. This is the last of the free samples I received a couple of months ago, which brings me up to date with the freebies and means I can now focus on all the teas I have bought in the meantime! :)

The dry leaf is a mix of green, brown and silver leaves. It looks like a good proportion of those lovely furry silver tips that make such good white teas. The dry leaf aroma is green and tobacco. Yes, I know that green is not technically an aroma, but that’s what it smells like, so there. Once steeped the leaves appear quite chopped. I suspect this may be a function of the process of removing a sample from a beeng, because others have noted how the leaves appear whole. They also have a vegetal, spinach aroma.

The liquor is a mid yellow colour and carries a light smoke and delicate earthiness along with a smidge of the tobacco. These notes increase with subsequent steeps. The sweetness and creaminess of the liquor remain constant throughout. There is a slight astringency that emerges in the aftertaste. The aftertaste endures nicely with a hint of menthol cooling the tongue.

More noticeable than the flavours is the cha qi which immediately struck me in the knees. I could feel my legs relaxing the second I sipped the first cup. I can also feel a serious tea drunk coming on! This tea is good now and that leaves me hoping for good things in the future once it has aged.

N.B. Teavivre recommend a 100 degree (212 degree) steeping temperature. I steeped it at 90 degrees. I worry that using boiling water will kill some of the notes I found in it.

I bought a packet of this just before Christmas, and sadly I have just had the last steep from that packet. I get about three (four if I really push it) steeps per pot. This is another really nice tea from Teavivre. I feel like a bit of a fraud because I don’t think I have ever said anything bad about any of their teas. I realise that this is partly because of the self-selecting nature of my sample; I only order teas that I think I shall like, and I am now fairly experienced at that. However, I think it is also a testament to the quality of tea that Teavivre sells.

This tea is largely malt and cocoa to me with slightly sweet notes on the side. It reminds me of Assam tea and would certainly make a good replacement for your English Breakfast tea. Its only failing, and that is not the tea’s fault, is that I do not find it as good as the Golden Monkey that I got in the same order. This is a good tea, but I do prefer Golden Monkey.

This was yet another generous free sample from Teavivre.

I’ve spent the day drinking this and really enjoying it. Upon opening the packet I was hit by a waft of hay and spice. The dry leaf looked to be in large pieces if not whole leaves. Upon steeping the leaves turned green and it became clear that my initial impression was correct. The liquor was a light amber colour and gave off a floral aroma, like orchids. The taste was light and yet full, being peppery with fruity rum and raisin notes. I got little in the way of astringency, except when the cats distracted me by demanding attention and I steeped it for a tad too long. Even that was pleasant and left a peppery aftertaste on the tongue. It has lasted me all day, amounting to about twelve steeps, so the tea has pretty good legs. Overall, this is a good tea that I would be happy to drink more of. Good job I have a second sample pack, eh? I might try the next packet at a higher temperature and with a longer steeping time to see how that fares, given that Teavivre recommends 100 degrees C and a steep time of 5 to 10 minutes. Yes, 5 to 10 minutes! That seems like an awfully long time when I am in the habit of brewing shengs for 10-15 seconds at a time.

I’ve been drinking the Meng Ba Na after a long break from it. These days I find myself less enamoured of shupu but this is a solid drink that I got at a decent price. It is round in flavour and full-bodied in texture. The dominant notes are wood and peach, giving it an earthy taste that is quite filling. I am quite pleased that I bought several bricks of it when I had the chance, because it seems to be developing nicely in storage, despite my lack of careful curation.

I bought a large packet of this ages ago and it has lasted well. The jasmine scent is not as strong as it was when I bought the tea, but it still makes a great light drink for after my morning coffee on a Sunday. It’s light, delicately scented, slightly sweet and generally good. I still think this is the best jasmine tea I have had, and I love that I can brew it in a mug by just dropping pearls into it and drinking as I go along. I guess it’s a variant on grandpa-ing the tea.

This was another free sample from Teavivre for which I must thank the lovely Angel.

I broke the first tuo in half to use it and it broke down into teeny tiny pieces. Based on this experience, I left the second one whole. One of the things I like about these tuos is that they come wrapped individually in paper wrappers. The designs on these wrappers (and indeed for most puerhs) have a strong aesthetic appeal for me.

As mentioned, the tuo broke down into teeny tiny pieces when I picked it apart. As it brewed, it became clear that it was largely chopped leaf and that there were quite a few sticks in there too. I did not expect any whole leaf really, because it is a mini tuo.

The dry leaf is honey-sweet and woody. As it brews, a smokiness in the aroma comes to the fore, and the leaf proves to be green. The liquor is yellow-ish green. I found it a tad milky instead of being completely clear, even after a couple of washings.

I liked the lightness and creaminess of this tea. It has floral and vegetal notes to it with a slight astringency that could be ameliorated by shorter steeps. This gives it a thick mouthfeel that is refreshing at the same time. There’s honey in the aftertaste with a wee nip at the end of it. The empty cup smells strongly of honey after drinking too.

For a tuo this is pretty good, although not top of my list of shengs, but then I have been spoilt by tasting some really good shengs in the past!

This was a free sample from Teavivre. Thank you and sorry for taking so long to write it up.

So, hello, Steepster. Remember me? I stopped coming around over the past few months. I’ve still been drinking tea, but I have not written up any of the notes I made. Time to rectify that problem.

This is a really fresh smelling leaf with a smell of warm hay. The leaves are soft and fuzzy. The liquor is almost clear. There is a fresh sweetness to it that is really lovely, like a cucumber sandwich on a hot summer’s day, or a good melon. The warmth of the hay comes through in the liquor too, with a balanced savoury sweetness that makes the tea both refreshing and moreish. This is a tea that belongs in my cupboard.